The crowd of 200 or so screamed its support for him. The hecklers went silent and were asked to leave by club owners. Martin, triumphant, completed his set and was high-fived on his way off the stage by audience members seeking a few laughs on a cold, rainy night.
Rhode Island is not exactly the New England comedy epicenter. It feeds nicely off the proximity of the much larger scene in Boston, where comics “can hit a room a night if they wanted to,’’ said P.J. Thibodeau, a Pawtucket resident and full-time comedian.
Other Ocean State venues include The Comedy Zone at Center Stage Warwick, a 245-seat, cabaret-style setting that started up in 2009, and the Comedy Factory, in existence since 1994, which does traveling shows throughout New England.
In Providence, big-name comics sometimes perform at the Providence Performing Arts Center, but there are smaller venues such as AS220 and Perishable Theatre, which hosts Improv Jones every Thursday and Saturday night. Improv Jones also hosts the annual Providence ImprovFest, scheduled this year for June 22-26, drawing comics from around the world.
It all spells ample opportunity to find big laughs in a small state. And they do come: Patrons stood 10 deep at the Comedy Connection, waiting for the doors to open for the 10 p.m. show, when Martin performed.
“It’s not bad, like a 45-minute drive,’’ said patron David Inman of Millbury, Mass., who came with fiancée Jamie-Lyn Ezold, and friends Shawn and Christine Beam, to celebrate Christine’s birthday. “We ate at Fire and Ice [in the Providence Place Mall] and came here for a show. It’s a night out without the kids,’’ Inman said.
“It’s a good scene. You have Providence about an hour away from Boston,’’ said E.J. Murphy, who was headlining at Comedy Connection. A Vermont native who lives now in Everett, Mass., Murphy is also a tour guide in Boston. “The scene here is married with the Boston scene. Ten years ago, you had to go all over, now you can find work in a smaller area.’’
